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Obedient to Failure
by Rose (movies profile)
Nov 6, 2007
16
of
21 people found this review helpful
Ella Enchanted was and is a delightful book designed to add a new twist to the tale of Cinderella. As a devoted fan of this book I waited with baited breath for the arival of this movie adaptation, glad that it had finally gotten its due publicity and its chance and the screen.
First of all, before you get into the depth of my arguement, do the curtesy to read the book. I don't want to spoil it for you. The movie on the other hand, is a waste of money and time.
As soon as the screen flashed to a small cottage with an anachronistic newspaper being delivered by an almost mocking observer, I knew I was in for a shock. I was then dissapointed by a distortion of the characters and storyline that I had grown to admire and love.
I saw the new princess of Genovia with her strong political views from the Princess Diaries in the place of the young heroine who used evasion and a strong mind to divert and even break a curse that threatened to hurt those she befriended and cared most for. All of the character's talents and strenghts had been uttlerly disolved to a damsel in distress. What a dissapointment to see the woman who tamed the ogres with her perfect linguistic ability be saved instead by a weak minded prince.
Instead of a young prince who was sent by loving (and LIVE) parents to spend a year observing another culture to learn its ways, and his own flawed view of the world, there stood before me on a screen a superficial "hunk" who was arogant enough to be suprised that there might be someone who disliked him. And instead of his loving parents? A nonexistant evil uncle who strongly reminded me of many Disney villans with their evil intent to usurp a Kingdom.
And the fairies? This is a fairy tale, yes, but it was a fairy tale in which fairies did not want to be known. They hid their lives away by wearing over sized skirts to hide the ONLY proof that they were fairies, their small delicate feet. Granted Lucinda was the exception, even in the book, however the Lucinda in the book atleast got a chance to taste her own medicine by spending 6 months as a squirel and six months as an obedient child.
The stepsisters, though shallow, played a quite different role within the original story. Hattie, though power-hungry, had enough sense to weave convincing lies. Olive, more than a simple kleptomaniac, loved white cakes and KJ's, eventually marrying an old rich man who would pay her by the day just to be around.
What of Ella's parents? Her father for one would never have called her "Ella." He disliked formalities and used her formal name. He rarely spoke to her, and only then to comment on her lack of education or similarity to her mother. Her mother, a noblewoman had died not just from illness, but a preventable one. And her father's new marriage, not only one of convenience had been "blessed" by Lucinda, with "love." This had led the father to be away more.
The anachronims that ran consistently through the movie were needless, and totally inconsistent with the book, which was rich in its detailed of a world of magic and mystery. The elf who claimed to be a lawyer and was forced into the life of an entertainer had originally been a skilled tradesman whose dignity and strength was challenged by the noble trading families of Frell. The "Community College" was in actuality a finishing school for girls in which friendships and politics ran deep. The costumes of the film also were nothing to write home about. The average halloween costume might have been more appropriate.
As for the song and dance. Why?
Some say that such a small book needed more to make it to the big screen, however I have found that even the smallest books contain enough wealth of details that they cannot help but have information cut out of them to fit into a 90-120 minute movie for children's attention spans.
I will admit that if I had no knowledge of the book I might have considered this a movie much like Shrek, which I enjoyed. However even that train of thought has its limitations. You can only make fun of so much for so long. By the end of the movie it would have already lost my interest.
As for the truth of the matter, if you plan to say that a movie is based on a much loved book of any age, don't disregard its themes and depth. I was expecting a delightful film, ranking with some of the classic retellings of Cinderella in the past decade. I have worn out atleast 2 copies of this book from frequent rereading. I felt insulted by a filmaker's lack of care for the fans of this author's work.
This film made me laugh with frustration, cry out of dissapointment, and walk out in fury. |
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